August 31, 2007

Why, you may ask? The first reason given was a lack of detention space--the second, was because the local sheriff permitted Tasers:

A conflict between federal immigration authorities and local law enforcement is jeopardizing the effectiveness of a new Colorado State Patrol unit set up to crack down on illegal immigration.

In early August, the State Patrol's newly created Immigration Enforcement Unit pulled over a van loaded with 18 suspected illegal immigrants on Interstate 70 near the Utah border.

But the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency failed to respond to the State Patrol's request for help.

In addition, the Garfield County jail - the nearest jail with available cells to hold the suspects - is no longer considered an allowable detention facility by ICE because the sheriff allows his officers to carry Tasers.

WTF!?!? The outrage continues:

"Without knowing more, whether this is something that is going to be an issue across the state, and possibly across the country, our efforts in Colorado to crack down on illegal immigration are again being thwarted by the federal government," said Evan Dreyer, spokesman for Gov. Bill Ritter.

The conflict between local and federal authorities came to light Aug. 7 when a member of the Immigration Enforcement Unit pulled over the van west of Grand Junction.

The trooper contacted ICE to pick up the van driver and his passengers. but agents never arrived.

"The trooper sat with the van for a couple of hours," said Lance Clem, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Public Safety. "He didn't get the help he expected from ICE."

When ICE did not show up, "they were turned loose," Clem said.

Carl Rusnok, public affairs officer for ICE in Dallas, said the suspects were not detained because "we did not have the detention space."

So much for tougher immigration laws and the crack new CSP Immigration Enforcement Unit. If the Federal government handicaps your ability because of Tasers, there isn't much force behind these new show measures.

Eating Meat Causes Global Warming; Al Gore In Denver Oct. 2

“You just cannot be a meat-eating environmentalist.”

Two quick thoughts: first, Al Gore will be in Denver October 2, and given his past record, we should anticipate significant cold weather-related phenomena from the "Al Gore effect"; second, to think that there are actually people to the left of Al Gore boggles the mind:

EVER since “An Inconvenient Truth,” Al Gore has been the darling of environmentalists, but that movie hardly endeared him to the animal rights folks. According to them, the most inconvenient truth of all is that raising animals for meat contributes more to global warming than all the sport utility vehicles combined.

The biggest animal rights groups do not always overlap in their missions, but now they have coalesced around a message that eating meat is worse for the environment than driving. They and smaller groups have started advertising campaigns that try to equate vegetarianism with curbing greenhouse gases.. . .When that report came out, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and other groups expected their environmental counterparts to immediately hop on the “Go Veggie!” bandwagon, but that did not happen. “Environmentalists are still pointing their fingers at Hummers and S.U.V.’s when they should be pointing at the dinner plate,” said Matt A. Prescott, manager of vegan campaigns for PETA.

It figures that PETA would latch it's own agenda onto the current vogue of global warming hysteria in order to build visibility. Moonbats protesting moonbats--should be fun!

So the animal rights groups are mobilizing on their own. PETA is outfitting a Hummer with a driver in a chicken suit and a vinyl banner proclaiming meat as the top cause of global warming. It will send the vehicle to the start of the climate forum the White House is sponsoring in Washington on Sept. 27, “and to headquarters of environmental groups, if they don’t start shaping up,” Mr. Prescott warned.

He said that PETA had written to more than 700 environmental groups, asking them to promote vegetarianism, and that it would soon distribute leaflets that highlight the impact of eating meat on global warming.

“You just cannot be a meat-eating environmentalist,” said Mr. Prescott, whose group also plans to send billboard-toting trucks to the Colorado Convention Center in Denver when Mr. Gore lectures there on Oct. 2. The billboards will feature a cartoon image of Mr. Gore eating a drumstick next to the tagline: “Too Chicken to Go Vegetarian? Meat Is the No. 1 Cause of Global Warming.”

Holy Family Principal Sr. Mary Rose Lieb, O.S.F. released a statement on Thursday evening about the incident:

"On Tuesday in a Spanish-language class at Holy Family High School, a single handful of students used heated and inappropriate rhetoric in a discussion on immigration. In a class of approximately 30 students, fewer than six students voiced strong anti-immigration opinions. The remaining two-thirds of the class were silent or voiced support for immigrants. At the end of the discussion, one student inappropriately said "white power," two or three times. Most of the students in the class did not hear the comments. Contrary to media reports, there were no chants by more than one student. Two students, who were offended, asked to leave the classroom and were given permission to leave. However, the discussion ended when other students realized how these students were affected and all of the students remained until the end of class."

"When the administration received a complaint regarding this discussion, interviews were conducted of the students in the classroom as well as the teacher. The student who acted inappropriately was disciplined and the situation has been addressed with the teacher."

"The administration treated this situation as a teaching moment - an opportunity to reaffirm that respect and charity should be the foundation of every dialogue and encounter with another."

"Holy Family High School is dedicated to being a family - through respect and charity for all its members. It's always had a diverse student body. It values that diversity and strives to be a place of unity and respect for all. The distortion and inaccurate reporting of this situation is hurtful to a community that should be praised for how well they get along in their diversity."

"In all archdiocesan Catholic schools there is ongoing in-services for administrators, teachers and staff on relevant topics such as immigration, historic justice, issues of bullying and respect."

It started with a simple question and ended with students chanting "white power" in a classroom.

It happened Tuesday in a classroom at Holy Family High School, the Catholic school that sits at the corner of 144th Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard in Broomfield.

The classroom discussion started with the question: Why do students need to learn Spanish?

According to the Archdiocese of Denver, the conversation soon became about immigration and it turned ugly.

"It became a heated discussion and some rhetoric was used that was inappropriate for the classroom," said Jeanette DeMelo, spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Denver.

At least one e-mail sent to 9NEWS said that students started a chant of "white power" and some said that all Mexicans should go back to Mexico.

"Immigration is an explosive topic right now. It seeped into the classroom," she said.

At this point, it doesn't seem like the whole story is clearly known, and what exactly provoked the racial comments made by students in the class, or if any counterresponses were made.

Students, as I did, can learn Spanish as a second language just as they would any other--and given the regional significance of the language even without the illegal immigration angle, it would be a good language to know. It was my first "foreign" language, as my great-grandparents (they came from New Mexico, and the "border crossed them, they didn't cross the border") were the last generation to speak the language fluently, along with English.

Of course in this environment of political correctness, only chants of "white power" get attention on the 5 o'clock news. Chants of ¡Viva la Raza! and ¡Si Se Puede! are largely ignored.

August 29, 2007

Survey: Less Than Half Of All Published Scientists Endorse Global Warming Theory

In 2004, history professor Naomi Oreskes performed a survey of research papers on climate change. Examining peer-reviewed papers published on the ISI Web of Science database from 1993 to 2003, she found a majority supported the "consensus view," defined as humans were having at least some effect on global climate change. Oreskes' work has been repeatedly cited, but as some of its data is now nearly 15 years old, its conclusions are becoming somewhat dated.

Medical researcher Dr. Klaus-Martin Schulte recently updated this research. Using the same database and search terms as Oreskes, he examined all papers published from 2004 to February 2007. The results have been submitted to the journal Energy and Environment, of which DailyTech has obtained a pre-publication copy. The figures are surprising.

Of 528 total papers on climate change, only 38 (7%) gave an explicit endorsement of the consensus. If one considers "implicit" endorsement (accepting the consensus without explicit statement), the figure rises to 45%. However, while only 32 papers (6%) reject the consensus outright, the largest category (48%) are neutral papers, refusing to either accept or reject the hypothesis. This is no "consensus."

The figures are even more shocking when one remembers the watered-down definition of consensus here. Not only does it not require supporting that man is the "primary" cause of warming, but it doesn't require any belief or support for "catastrophic" global warming. In fact of all papers published in this period (2004 to February 2007), only a single one makes any reference to climate change leading to catastrophic results.

Portrait of Bush

"After the Bush Library reportedly backed out of a portrait they had commissioned from British artist Jonathan Yeo, the 36-year-old artist went forward with one anyway, a collage created from fragments of 100 porn magazines.

The work was unveiled yesterday at London's Lazarides Gallery in Soho."

Well...if one did want inspiration for Bush, porn magazines would seem very appropriate. Right? Geddit? Bush?

Read more HERE and make sure to check out the not-so-blurred version. You know you want to...perv.

Sen. Allard "Flabbergasted" By Craig Story

U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard of Colorado said he doesn't believe that his Republican colleague who was arrested in a men's restroom is gay.

Allard, who served in the Senate since 1997, said he was "flabbergasted" to learn about the arrest of U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, a three-term senator. A plainclothes officer was investigating complaints about sexual activity in the bathroom.

Allard said he's never heard anyone discuss Craig's sexuality.

"Never. Nada. Not one rumor of impropriety," he said.

The two have worked together on a number of Western issues.

"I'm flabbergasted," Allard said. "I don't believe he's gay."

Asked if it mattered if Craig were gay, Allard reiterated that he doesn't believe his colleague is gay.

On March 31, 2001, according to court records, Astin walked into the Salvation Army store in Longmont, pulled a knife from a green bag and stabbed Dylan Trembley. The two men scuffled, and Trembley was able to take the knife and ram it into Astin's cheek. At some point, according to police reports, Astin "grabbed a Bible from his bag and was yelling something about God sending him."

Kitty DeKieffer, spokeswoman for the Mental Health Center, which oversees the Chinook Clubhouse and runs the residential facility where Astin lived, said she hoped CU's action wouldn't stigmatize people with mental illness.

"We've enjoyed a very good relationship with (CU)," she said. "This is one incident."

The lack of background checks surprised Rebecca Carr, of Indianapolis, who was helping her daughter, Courtney, a 19-year-old sophomore, buy books at the University Memorial Center on Tuesday.

Carr, who works in the mental health field, also said she was surprised that Astin was able to live freely in an area densely populated with students.

August 28, 2007

CU Student Stabbed, Victim And Suspect Known

CU-Boulder Chancellor G.P. "Bud" Peterson announced on Monday that CU will now start doing criminal background checks on all employees - a practice they previously did not do. Peterson says had they known Astin's background, he would not have been hired.

Sources identified the suspect as Kenton Drew Astin, 39, of Boulder, 7NEWS Investigators said. Astin has a history of mental illness, a lengthy criminal record and has been known to go by the alias Dylan Klebold -- one of the killers in the Columbine High School shootings, according to court records.

A University of Colorado freshman, identified by family members as Michael George Knorps, is hospitalized with a knife wound after being cut outside of the student center this morning, the first day of classes on the Boulder campus.

Knorps, who is from Illinois, was coherent and able to talk after the incident, campus spokesman Bronson Hilliard said. He is undergoing surgery, and his parents have been notified.. . .The suspect, whom 7NEWS has named as Kenton Astin, 39, of Boulder, stabbed himself several times in the chest after the incident, which happened around 9:40 a.m. on the west terrace of the University Memorial Center, Hilliard said.. . .Witnesses said they initially mistook the episode as staged drama.

“Everyone thought he was doing a skit or something, but it ended up being real,” said Cory Ravelson, a CU freshman.

“It looked like a Shakespeare act,” said Nate Solder, a CU sophomore who said he heard the man yelling, then saw him jump toward Knorps and slice his throat.

“It seemed so randomly weird,” Solder said.

Why not surprising? Anyone that has visited CU-Boulder can attest to the number of "interesting" folk who populate the campus and are neither students, staff, or faculty. Such "colorful" residents are mostly peaceful and non-interfering, though they could use a shower.

Secondly, the reaction of the witnesses to the incident is indicative of the attitude at CU-Boulder that the extraordinary or outrageous is both ordinary and even expected.

Thankfully the student is recovering and the attacker will be arrested as soon as his stint in the hospital wraps up. Given the attacks at the high school in Bailey and the "Emperor" shooting at the state Capitol, this story could have ended much more tragically, and provided yet more negative attention for CU.

August 27, 2007

Why We Fight

Today, 40 years after my cousin was killed in that far-off land, I sit back and reflect on his life. The Buckinghams, Tommy James and the Shondells and the Rolling Stones on my iPod take me back to that hot summer day, and I can hear the faint sounds of helicopter rotors as they seem to get closer and louder. There's the sporadic explosion of mortar fire in the distance and the sound of boots hitting the dirt. I hear the rack of a machine gun bolt and the crack and pop of small-arms fire.

No, I'm not imagining these things. I'm actually listening to them as I, myself, grab for my M-4 rifle and flak vest. You see, I'm currently serving as a civilian advisor in western Iraq with a team of Marines from the 3rd Marine Division from Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. And just like I did while serving in Bosnia in the 1990s, I carry my cousin's photograph with me, as a reminder of who I am, and why I'm here.

Cross posted from The Daily Blogster, where I am filling in for Mr. Bob while he is deployed.

CU Does Away With Team Chaplain, Allows Spirituality; Other Teams Have "Life-Skills Assistant"

Buffs players will have to work a little harder to communicate with the Lord this football season.

For the first time in years, the University of Colorado football team does not have a chaplain — at least not officially.

When former Buffs player Mike Spivey left as the team's chaplain at the end of last season, coach Dan Hawkins didn't seek a replacement for him.

It's not that Hawkins — a Catholic — isn't spiritually minded, but the second-year CU coach said he simply didn't see a need for a full-time chaplain this season."I think it's very important, but I also think there are different avenues for that, different places for that and different times for that," Hawkins said. "We want to make it available to those who want it, but don't want to make anyone do anything they don't want to do."

Instead, the coach is allowing Chip Simmons, a chaplain with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, to have a limited presence with the team.

But don't call Simmons the Buffs' chaplain, Hawkins said.

Normally this sort of personnel/team decision wouldn't elicit much response--however the moonbats are calling for the "separation of church and state", even on football teams:

Yet Simmons' unofficial status with the team is still too much for William Corn, a retired public accountant and longtime Boulder resident, who said there should be no official ties whatsoever to religion on a public university football team.

He faxed two letters to Hawkins this summer asking that the Buffs do away with its chaplain program, claiming it violates the Constitution's separation of church and state.

Corn said simply changing the job title and removing a few responsibilities from the post doesn't alter the fact that the team is choosing to retain a connection to a Christian religious figure.

"These guys who want to bring religion in, it's a scandal," Corn said. "You cannot have religion in a public institution. Whose religion should you have?"

The local ACLU chapter was quick to chime in:

Judd Golden, chairman of the Boulder County chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said public universities have to be careful when drawing religious leaders into school programs.

"The idea that football has some transcendental need for spiritual guidance that is different than what other students at the university need is constitutionally flawed," Golden said. "Football should be treated no differently than an English class."

He said giving a Christian spiritual figure special access to the players runs the risk of excluding nonbelievers or players of other faiths.

"When you're trying to recruit Jewish athletes, Muslim athletes, atheist athletes, do they feel that this is their place?" Golden asked. "This is a state school, this is not Brigham Young University."

As the son of a cop, I'd call this case a slam-dunk. Arellano entered the country illegally a decade ago, was deported, re-entered illegally, and then defied a second deportation order by holing up for months in a Chicago church. Then she took an ego trip by going on a national tour in support of illegal immigrants. Finally, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) nabbed her in Los Angeles. Now her tour is canceled, and she is in Tijuana.

Good. It's a shame that Arellano will be separated from her 8-year-old son, Saulito, who was born in the U.S. and is thus a citizen. But the pain is her doing. She knew the risks and yet she put her son's welfare in jeopardy, not just by being an illegal immigrant but a conspicuous one at that.

Howard Dean Kicks Off Denver DNC Countdown

Highlights of today's Democratic National Convention Countdown, including Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, Governor Bill Ritter and DNC Chair Howard Dean. Rep. Mark Udall was surprisingly not in attendance (nor even mentioned for that matter) and given that his high-profile race for Colorado's open Senate seat should garner him a key speaking role in next year's convention, his omission was surprising. Dean discusses potential seat pick-ups in the West, but Udall is never mentioned.

"Any Democrat is better than any Republican running," said Dean. Typical political boilerplate at events such as this--and when Dean started listing states that he believes are shifting to the left, once could feel a scream coming on. Too bad about those record low approval numbers for the Democratically controlled Congress.

Introductions from Leah Daughtry, CEO of the DNCC

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper--Democrats "pro-business, pro-environment", the most "green" convention

Howard Dean, Part 2--Democrats "cut-and-run" strategy, omits Democrats' own "culture of corruption", "act differently" than Republicans (not just talk about global warming, but act to end it--as long as that doesn't mean giving up the limousine liberal lifestyle, of course)

Beyonce Concert To Honor Returning Fort Carson Soldiers

Pop superstar Beyonce will honor five Fort Carson soldiers for their Iraq service during her concert tonight at the Pepsi Center.

The 25-year-old singer's recognition of the soldiers is part of the Army's Operation Tribute to Freedom program, which honors returning soldiers for their service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Among the soldiers to be singled out at "The Beyonce Experience" concert before a crowd of more than 19,000 people will be Spc. Maurice Boozer. He served in Iraq with the 59th Quartermaster Company, ensuring units had fuel to keep vital equipment and vehicles running.

Boozer and his unit were credited with pumping more than 10 billion gallons of flammable fuel to combat units — treacherous duty in a war zone fraught with suicide bombers and hidden roadside explosives.

No Prosecution For Max Karson Over Virginia Tech Comments

A University of Colorado student arrested over comments he made in class following the Virginia Tech massacre accepted a deal in Boulder County District Court this morning that will leave his record unscathed if he stays out of trouble for a year.

CU junior Max Karson agreed to a “deferred prosecution” of the charges filed against him after he sparked a First Amendment firestorm in April with controversial comments during a classroom debate about the Virginia Tech shootings.

That means Karson won’t be prosecuted, he isn’t pleading guilty — he doesn’t even have to apologize for his remarks that upset several students — if he stays out of trouble for a year.

A victory for free speech, right? No--Karson should be more aware of "potentially" harmful statements:

Boulder County Judge Noel E. Blum said during the hearing that he has few concerns about approving the deferred prosecution, and he doesn’t think Karson will be back before the court.

Still, the judge warned Karson to think about the people he affects with his words, not just whether he’s allowed to speak them.

“This, to me, has more to do with humanity than First Amendment rights,” Blum said. “Part of being an adult means knowing how your actions affect other people. Just because we can do something, doesn’t mean we should.”

Blum challenged Karson to consider being decent and sensitive before engaging in potentially hurtful dialogue.

Did Karson lack tact? Probably. But isn't college about making bold, often offensive statements? Apparently only if you are Ward Churchill.

August 21, 2007

Pat Schroeder: Conservatives Want Slogans, Read Less Than Liberals

Liberal Congresswoman Pat Schroeder of Denver. Remember her? Well, according to her liberals read more than conservatives--'cuz all they want is "slogans". What is the margin? Liberals read 9 books/year, conservatives . . . 8! Those stupid moderates only read 5!:

Liberals read more books than conservatives. The head of the book publishing industry's trade group says she knows why—and there's little flattering about conservative readers in her explanation.

"The Karl Roves of the world have built a generation that just wants a couple slogans: 'No, don't raise my taxes, no new taxes,'" Pat Schroeder, president of the American Association of Publishers, said in a recent interview. "It's pretty hard to write a book saying, 'No new taxes, no new taxes, no new taxes' on every page."

Schroeder, who as a Colorado Democrat was once one of Congress' most liberal House members, was responding to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll that found people who consider themselves liberals are more prodigious book readers than conservatives.

She said liberals tend to be policy wonks who "can't say anything in less than paragraphs. We really want the whole picture, want to peel the onion."

What about "no war for oil", "bush lied, people died", and "health care is a human right". If you did a comparison, the platitudinous left draws on more cliches and slogans than a Hollywood movie and marketing campaign combined.

Rove, President Bush's departing political adviser, is known as a prodigious reader. White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Schroeder was "confusing volume with quality" with her remarks.

"Obfuscation usually requires a lot more words than if you simply focus on fundamental principles, so I'm not at all surprised by the loquaciousness of liberals," he said.

Ever heard a liberal wax poetic on their pet cause? Or a moonbat pontificate on their soapbox for five minutes or more while promising that they do really have a point or question?

An economy of words isn't a sign of ignorance any more than verbal diarrhea is an indication of intelligence.

Pocket Marketing: Cell Phone Ads And The "Third Screen"

Mobile phones are a potential gold mine for advertisers, the most personal and intimate way to communicate and engage with subscribers - more than 2 billion of them and counting worldwide.

Yet the advertisers' two-liner text pitches have largely fueled a growing hate club, with recipients quickly equating the messages with spam they abhor on desktops.

Now, thanks to improved technologies, advertisers believe they have struck upon the formula for getting their messages across without irking consumers. The development is important given the mobile handset's promise to be a "third screen" - after the television and the desktop computer.. . .Better handsets and faster networks mean "more brands utilizing mobile devices for more advanced marketing and advertising initiatives," said Laura Marriott, executive director of the Denver-based industry trade group Mobile Marketing Association.. . .The advertising industry is mindful of earlier mistakes, including inundating consumers with pop-up ads on the desktop and text messages on the phone.

Many agree that preserving a good customer experience is critical.

"Push marketing and spam have a very short shelf life," said Frank Brown, director of the mobile marketing and technology firm Sydus.

People need to feel, Brown said, that they had specifically invited the pitch or are engaging with the brand in a relevant and entertaining way.. . .The risks are high if they don't do it right.

"Consumer aversion to such advertisements in the past is due to the fact that they were irrelevant to the recipients," King said.

Targeted, "opt-in" ads that appear on cell phones could break the wall that other advertisements sometimes miss, the time and place utility of impulse purchases on location. A relevant ad for a preferred brand--the right message for the right person at the right time.

August 20, 2007

Blogs For Borders Video Blogburst 082107

All of us in the blogosphere who stand with the undocumented in the greatest civil rights struggle of our generation should make sure this message is not lost in the noise of the right wing hate machine.

And MyFox 31 Denver shows that efforts at the border to enforce our laws have fallen short.

August 19, 2007

Ward Churchill Acknowledges University Indoctrination

Although indoctrination--teaching students what to think instead of how to think on their own--is something that others do, not Churchill himself:

“I was hired for what I do,” he said, not because of claims of Native ancestry. Likewise, “I’ve been fired for what I was hired to do.”

That, he said, is to provoke people into thinking about and challenging prevailing notions of U.S. history and global politics.

“Nobody is being taught how to think,” he said. Instead, most universities are “teaching people what to think. That’s indoctrination.”

Churchill seems to have a problem with projection. One scholar's provocation is another's indoctrination. At least he recognizes that the problem exists, though he has the roles and the agenda reversed.

He continues:

Churchill says he never expected his views to draw widespread attention, yet he has found that “it’s validating. I always had the expectation of restrictions” on free speech and academic freedom, he said, but “it’s an abstraction until you actually experience it.”

By firing him, the CU regents “gutted academic freedom,” he said. “Academic freedom only has meaning in the face of controversy and outrage.”

Translation: I never expected to be challenged! Academic freedom only has meaning when applied to scholars like me!

Churchill knows that controversy sells, so his claim of astonishment rings hollow.

Big Bucks To See Dems '08 Bash

If you're a "Mile High" donor and give $52,800 to help Denver host the 2008 Democratic National Convention, you get invited to the biggest parties and are granted multiple advertising opportunities.

If you're "Presidential" and donate $1 million or more, you also get VIP access and credentials to the coveted Pepsi Center convention hall, choice hotel reservations, invites to private meetings with the mayor, the governor, Sen. Ken Salazar and Rep. Diana DeGette - and loads of other perks.

Apparently John Edwards' "two Americas" will be present even at the Democratic National Convention. And they say the Republicans are the party of the rich . . .

Professors On The Battlefield?

Marcus Griffin is not a soldier. But now that he cuts his hair "high and tight" like a drill sergeant's, he understands why he is being mistaken for one. Mr. Griffin is actually a professor of anthropology at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Va. His austere grooming habits stem from his enrollment in a new Pentagon initiative, the Human Terrain System. It embeds social scientists with brigades in Afghanistan and Iraq, where they serve as cultural advisers to brigade commanders.

Mr. Griffin, a bespectacled 39-year-old who speaks in a methodical monotone, believes that by shedding some light on the local culture-- thereby diminishing the risk that U.S. forces unwittingly offend Iraqi sensibilities--he can improve Iraqi and American lives. On the phone from Fort Benning, two weeks shy of boarding a plane bound for Baghdad, he describes his mission as "using knowledge in the service of human freedom."

The Human Terrain System is part of a larger trend: Nearly six years into the war on terror, there is reason to believe that the Vietnam-era legacy of mistrust--even hostility--between academe and the military may be eroding.. . .So will these instances of cooperation be enduring? Do they represent the harbinger of a more pervasive reconsideration of Vietnam-era pieties in academe? Hard to say. But it somehow seems significant that no less an archetype of Vietnam-era agitation than Tom Hayden emerged last month to raise the dusty banner of anti-military antagonism. In an essay posted on the Web site of the Nation magazine, he attacked Ms. Sewall for collaborating with Gen. Petraeus on the new manual, which he dismissed as "an academic formulation to buttress and justify a permanent engagement in counter-terrorism wars" that "runs counter to the historic freedom of university life."

Mr. Hayden's article suggests a bizarre conception of the role of scholars in American life: that they should be held to a priestly standard of ethical purity. "Are academics so much purer than anybody else that we can't ever be in situations where we are confronting tough ethical choices?" asks Noah Feldman, a professor of law at Harvard who briefly, in 2003, was an adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority. "If academics didn't get involved with these kinds of difficult questions, maybe all that would be left is a department of Kantian philosophy," he jokes. "Then we would be pure, but we would be irrelevant."

Some academics think that their purity (ideological, identity, etc.) precludes them from things like criticism--"how dare the unwashed, uneducated masses question our authority?"

August 17, 2007

US Soldiers Finish Broken National Anthem

"You could have heard a pin drop. Every soldier stood at attention. Suddenly there was a lone voice, then a dozen, and quickly the room was filled with the voices of a thousand soldiers, singing:

And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

O say does that Star-Spangled banner yet wave, o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave."

"They sang it and they sang with gusto. It's one of those things that makes your heart feel good," Higgins told 7NEWS.

The chaplain, who has been in the reserves for 13 years, said he spent six months training with Colorado soldiers before going to Iraq.

He told 7NEWS, "I'm coming to Colorado because those are some great people. If [the soldiers] are indicative of the people of Colorado, those are the kind of people I want to spend the rest of my life with."

American Higher Ed Supports Israeli Colleagues

Finally a college petition we can get behind (and one that doesn't involve Ward Churchill)--some American college and university presidents (including the Association of American Universities) took out an advertisement that opposed "the United Kingdom's University and College Union's proposed boycott of Israeli universities."

To Ruffini, the Republican problem online is rooted in an older culture that has stopped innovating and has failed to embrace the sort of cooperative networking practices and freewheeling activism that collectively has produced so much new energy on the Democratic side.

Troubling Signs Appearing In Denver

Useonlywhatyouneed.org, a promotion by Denver Water to reduce water consumption, promotes a water conservation pledge that sounds a little extreme--among other sacrifices, the personal pledge includes the following: "I pledge to gently nudge my neighbor toward my conservation ways, and if that doesn't work, I pledge to weld his faucet shut."

I'm sure it was meant as tongue-in-cheek, but when it comes to the use of social pressure to enforce the current fad of global warming/climate change, the humorous "pledge" sounds more like forced indoctrination. It is not that difficult to make the logical step toward informing on one's neighbor for minor infractions, and given the sometimes hostile relationships that everyone has with a neighbor (these hostilities seem inevitable, and are usually of the pettiest nature), punitive retribution seems likely. One only has to gaze around certain neighborhoods in Denver (these signs are quite prominent in the area around the old Elitch's) to note the ubiquitousness and the intent of such social pressure. "Look at me! I conserve!" and the necessary corollary--"I'm watching you!"

Can you imagine if such a pledge was made for flying the flag? Considering the types of moonbats likely to take up this cause, we find the "use only what you need" pledge very disconcerting.

August 11, 2007

Telluride Moonbats Vote To Impeach Bush; Aspen Has Better Things To Do

Telluride's moonbats are an inclusive bunch:

"Telluride is today, and always has been through history, a very open and accepting place," said Scott McQuade, director of the Telluride Tourism Board.

Except for conservatives and members of the GOP, that is. Earlier this week they made headlines in their quest to join the ranks of similarly-minded BDS-afflicted moonbatopias.

Telluride joins predictable places such as San Francisco, West Hollywood and Berkeley in California and less well- known politically outspoken bergs like Marlboro, Vt., and Chapel Hill, N.C., in voting for impeachment.

Telluride would have been the second municipality in Colorado to do so, but the Nederland Town Board last year voted down a measure that would have urged their congressman to introduce an impeachment measure.

Telluride is a fitting place to be first in the state It's an independent-minded historic-mining-town-turned-resort without a single Republican in office. Democrats, Libertarians and Green Party members fill every elected chair.

But while Telluride seems to lack other pressing issues, nearby liberal hangout Aspen doesn't have time to waste on petty symbolic votes, no matter how popular:

There are hundreds of issues local officials want to address in Aspen.

Impeaching President Bush and Dick Cheney isn’t one of them.

It appears Aspen resident Sy Coleman’s request to have the Aspen City Council join a growing list of governments in officially calling for an impeachment will not be considered.

The request came Monday, with Coleman pointing to several cities throughout America that have passed resolutions calling for throwing Bush and Cheney out of office.

The Telluride Town Council is the latest, and the first community in Colorado, to join the list. Council members recently voted 6-1 for such a resolution. If the measure survives a second reading Aug. 7, it would become the town’s official position.

It doesn’t appear that will be the case in Aspen, where local leaders said they’ve got too much on their plate to concern themselves with such a politically charged national issue.

“People didn’t elect me to take a position on this,” said City Councilman Jack Johnson. “It is very difficult to take time away from what is important to us.”

If city government were to consider backing an impeachment effort, significant public input would have to come first, including public hearings.

“We don’t have time for that,” Johnson said, adding that if Coleman presented a petition with hundreds of residents’ signatures asking for a resolution, he would have to consider it.

City Councilman Dwayne Romero agreed that a national issue of that proportion doesn’t have a place in Aspen politics.

“It’s noble, but for the here and now, I’d like to take care of our own set of issues,” he said.

No time for tilting at windmills in Aspen, even though one councilman agrees that impeachment is a "noble" gesture.

Diversity Not Panacea, Leads To Lower Social Capital

IT HAS BECOME increasingly popular to speak of racial and ethnic diversity as a civic strength. From multicultural festivals to pronouncements from political leaders, the message is the same: our differences make us stronger.

But a massive new study, based on detailed interviews of nearly 30,000 people across America, has concluded just the opposite. Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam -- famous for "Bowling Alone," his 2000 book on declining civic engagement -- has found that the greater the diversity in a community, the fewer people vote and the less they volunteer, the less they give to charity and work on community projects. In the most diverse communities, neighbors trust one another about half as much as they do in the most homogenous settings. The study, the largest ever on civic engagement in America, found that virtually all measures of civic health are lower in more diverse settings.

"The extent of the effect is shocking," says Scott Page, a University of Michigan political scientist.

The University of Colorado announced Friday that Sallye McKee will become the first vice chancellor for diversity, equity and community engagement.. . ."I want students to say, 'Because I was at CU-Boulder, I'm able to live and work better as a leader in a global society,'" McKee said. "We want to work on building a campus climate that is safe and respectful."

The new position elevates the dialogue about diversity to the chancellor's cabinet.

"This is a very important step as a university," said Chancellor G.P. "Bud" Peterson. "When the senior leadership team meets to talk about issues of all sorts, the diversity perspective will be present at the table and have input. That hasn't always been the case."

Not sure what the "diversity perspective" is, other than what it has traditionally been--a token minority. Too bad CU doesn't mean diversity of ideas, of thoughts. The pop multiculturalism on college campuses these days tends toward stressing the inherent differences of cultures, the superiority of those "outside the norm" (non-white, non-Christian), and the inevitable Balkanization of campus social groups. While an undergraduate, I was encouraged to spend more time with "my people" by joining UMAS y MeChA. Needless to say, identity politics was not what I had in mind when I considered expanding my thought horizon in college. Judgement by character and not skin color was what I had been relentlessly reminded of since elementary school--now skin color, ethnicity, etc. was the most important factor and indeed determinant of social position within the university.

Assuming that any group shares more than a superficial similarity in upbringing, socialization, etc. is nothing short of stereotyping. Assigning worth based on such assumptions--brown, LGBT, progressive = good; white, straight, conservative/Christian = bad--has been the polarizing mode of conduct for the past three decades. This avenue of "diversity" has produced the negative results, the loss in social capital that Putnam observes:

"People living in ethnically diverse settings appear to 'hunker down' -- that is, to pull in like a turtle," Putnam writes.

In documenting that hunkering down, Putnam challenged the two dominant schools of thought on ethnic and racial diversity, the "contact" theory and the "conflict" theory. Under the contact theory, more time spent with those of other backgrounds leads to greater understanding and harmony between groups. Under the conflict theory, that proximity produces tension and discord.

Putnam's findings reject both theories. In more diverse communities, he says, there were neither great bonds formed across group lines nor heightened ethnic tensions, but a general civic malaise. And in perhaps the most surprising result of all, levels of trust were not only lower between groups in more diverse settings, but even among members of the same group.

"Diversity, at least in the short run," he writes, "seems to bring out the turtle in all of us."

Within the context of the university, the tendency toward "hunkering down" overtakes all other dimensions, as students naturally flock to similarly-minded peers in social activities and clubs as they continue the process of "finding themselves". Even the most "open-minded" eventually find the group or social milieu that best expresses their sense of being or answers some of their questions. This is, in fact, encouraged.

The backlash to this study should be interesting to follow (unless, of course, they choose to suppress it). If this is what is meant by academic freedom--challenging the status quo with rigorous scholarship and meaningful study, then cheers to all. I'm sure the Ward Churchills of the academic world are none too pleased that one of their shibboleths has been challenged in the public's eye.

August 10, 2007

Whites No Longer Majority In Denver

An example of the impact of changing demographics--though hardly unexpected. More surprising is the fact that 2006 represented the first year in 17 that saw more people moving in to Denver than moving out.

"My response is you have to look at the results. New York City had the least amount of illegality per capita of any major city in the country and I brought that change about," Giuliani said during a visit to a Colorado Springs restaurant.

"When we came into office, New York City was the crime capital of America. When I left office, it was the safest large city in America in just about every single category, which means it had the least amount of illegality of any kind, whether you're talking about illegal immigrants or illegal Americans," Giuliani said.. . .Giuliani also answered questions from supporters and customers about his stance on illegal immigrants. He drew a map of the Mexican border on a piece of paper and said fighting illegal immigration will require a combination of physical barriers and technology to fill in the gaps.

Giuliani said immigrants should be given tamperproof identification cards.

"Everyone from a foreign country should be identified," Giuliani told Krystal Holthus, a Colorado Springs resident concerned about the issue.

Mitt Romney has argued that Giuliani's lax position and failure to enforce immigration policies made New York City a de facto "sanctuary city", inherited from his predecessor, Mayor Ed Koch. Giuliani will have to square away his current explanation of his stance on illegal immigration with his statements made in the '90s:

At a June 1994 press conference, Giuliani decried anti-illegal immigration policies as unfair and hostile.

"Some of the hardest-working and most productive people in this city are undocumented aliens," Giuliani said at the time. "If you come here and you work hard and you happen to be in an undocumented status, you're one of the people who we want in this city. You're somebody that we want to protect, and we want you to get out from under what is often a life of being like a fugitive, which is really unfair."

At a speech in Minneapolis in 1996, Giuliani defended Koch's executive order, that, in his words "protects undocumented immigrants in New York City from being reported to the INS while they are using city services that are critical for their health and safety, and for the health and safety of the entire city."

"There are times when undocumented immigrants must have a substantial degree of protection," Giuliani said.

This is a different decade, and Giuliani is no longer running for office in one of the most liberal cities in America. He will, if he receives the GOP nomination, have to overcome considerable doubt by those who seek border security and enforcement of the law. Anyone concerned by the state of illegal immigration in this country will demand more than platitudes from any candidate seeking their vote come November 2008.

August 09, 2007

Project: "Letters From Home"

I’m working with the 1st Battalion 1st Marine Regiment to get every one of their soldiers a letter of support from home. This is where you, my readers, come in to the picture; I need you to write these men and women, and then spread the word about the project to everyone you can. We need about 1000 emails in order to get one to every Marine. Please put letters from home in the subject line.

Update: The address I’ve set up for project Letters From Home is letters@thinking-right.com

Burned Flag Left Outside Home In Longmont, Colorado; Homeowners Believe They Were Targeted For Patriotism And Military Service

A Longmont couple awoke to find the charred remains of a burned American flag on the sidewalk in front of their home Tuesday morning.

"I was just appalled," said Brenda Bourgeois who lives in the home with her husband.. . .Larry Bourgeois spent 4 years in the United States Marine Corps and has several patriotic items displayed around his home and car.

"We never display anything that's confrontational or that's in your face, we're proud to be Americans and I was proud to be in the Marine Corps," Larry Bourgeois said.

The couple says they've felt some hostility toward the military in the past, and believe the burned flag is meant to send a message.

"Regardless if you agree with the war or not, someone is laying down their life for me, and you," Brenda Bourgeois said.

For now, Longmont police say there isn't evidence to show this was a bias motivated crime, or hate crime.

A police spokesperson also told 7NEWS since the flag didn't belong to the couple, or endanger their property, there's not a lot police can do except file a report.. . ."Anytime somebody comes in the middle of the darkness of night to start a fire in your front yard, maybe next time it's your house," Bourgeois said.

Denver PD Calls For Help For 2008 DNC

Denver won't have enough cops of its own to police the 2008 Democratic National Convention, so Chief Gerry Whitman has called on suburban police departments to help carry the load.

In a recent letter, Whitman asked various metro area police chiefs to pledge forces for the convention next August, Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson confirmed Tuesday.. . .Denver police declined to release a copy of the letter or to discuss convention security plans.

Hickenlooper Wants Taxpayers To Open Wallets Yet Again

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper made a rare appearance at Monday's City Council meeting to pitch his infrastructure bond package.

After making a few language changes, the council voted on first reading to place the eight questions on the Nov. 6 ballot.

The council also scheduled a one-hour public hearing for Aug. 13, which is when the proposal is up for a final vote.

The proposal calls for two property tax increases.

One is a 2.5 mill levy bump that would generate $27 million annually to pay for ongoing maintenance of the city's aging assets such as streets and park irrigation systems.

The other is a 20-year, $550 million bond issue to pay for deferred maintenance, "critical" projects and new buildings.

The mill levy is one question and the $550 million worth of projects make up the other seven.

Hopefully Slickenlooper's headshot taken while wearing a "two-button wool suit by Emporio Armani ($1,275); a cotton shirt by Dolce & Gabbana ($575) and a silk tie by Prada ($160)" will help persuade Denver voters to pass yet more tax increases. (he did not keep the outfit) As the "best-dressed" mayor in America, how could they refuse?

Voters will consider eight separate questions. If all are approved, the owner of a home valued at $255,000 would pay $61.66 more in property taxes annually. The Denver City Council will consider the mayor's proposal on first reading tonight.

• Question 1: Tax increase

Would increase property taxes and generate $27 million annually to pay for ongoing maintenance.

• Question 2: Refurbishing buildings

The city wants to spend $70.1 million to improve buildings, from replacing windows to remodeling rest-rooms.

• Question 3: Health and human services

Hickenlooper's proposal calls for $48.6 million for such projects as $3.5 million to expand the Westwood Child Development Center.

• Question 4: Parks and recreation centers

This measure calls for $93.4 million for such projects as completing the restoration of the Greek Amphitheatre in Civic Center.

• Question 5: Public safety

A new police crime lab and a new fire station in the Lowry neighborhood are among the $65.2 million worth of projects in this category.

• Question 6: Streets, transportation and public works

Voters would be asked to approve $149.8 million for street improvements and other public works projects.

• Question 7: Libraries

The mayor is proposing to spend $51.9 million to build three new libraries and to maintain and upgrade other library buildings.

• Question 8: Cultural facilities

The Boettcher Concert Hall and the Denver Museum of Nature & Science would get a combined $70 million for renovations and other construction projects.

There is concern that due to Denver's bond cap at $480 million, that the remaining projects will trigger a property tax increase (the remaining $70 million), and the 8 proposals are now jockeying for position so that they won't be voted down in an attempt to avoid the tax hike.

Face The State has a rundown on the 14 increases since 2003 brought by Hizzoner, and the real consequences of yet more bonding--bigger increases in the future.

We have added Schaffer v Udall to our blogroll, and will be updating the list to differentiate Colorado blogs from the rest of our great links. Be sure to add Schaffer v Udall to your blogroll or RSS feed.

EPW Now Has Competing Blogs

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the people running the EPW's (now) minority blog have seen their competition give blogging a try--though it will be hard for the newcomers to repeat the original blog's success, including links from Drudge that shut down the Senate's servers.

The global warming debate in the Senate's EPW Committee just got a little hotter. Or colder. Or saw a change in climate--or whatever the heck global warming is supposed to do to the weather these days.

Illegal Immigration Roundup 080607

This is finally getting some national attention--"This is going to be my new hobby from now on. I'm going to see what I can do to send every single illegal alien back home."--Bruno Kirchenwitz, ex 7-Eleven employee, who claims to have been fired because of his stance on illegal immigration. Who was responsible for shooting the 7-Eleven?

Police issued an arrest warrant for one of the men, Richard Ramirez, an illegal alien who had been deported before by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Basalt Police Chief Keith Ikeda said the department identified the second man, who is living in Colorado legally, though no warrant is issued for his arrest.

7-Eleven continues to maintain that Kirchenwitz was terminated for violating company policy, not his political views:

"They said that because of an 'egregious customer interaction,' we've decided to terminate you," he said. "My store manager didn't even know. Now they're saying I provoked retaliation that night."

Margaret Chabris, spokeswoman for 7-Eleven, said Mr. Kirchenwitz was fired for breaking company policy the night of the shooting, as well as for "other issues that we learned about as we were going through the process."

"He violated 7-Eleven's non-confrontation policy. He was trained in not confronting customers, in treating customers with respect," Mrs. Chabris said. "It had nothing to do with the First Amendment or immigration or any of those things."

Charging citizens and state residents out-of-state tuition because their parents are undocumented “is the academic equivalent of the poll tax. It disenfranchises a certain group of people.”

That doesn't just make the practice wrong. It makes it intolerable.

If American families must provide similar proof of residence in order to qualify for in-state tuition, why should families whose presence in the country is illegal--even if their children are citizens by birth--be given a break that Americans can not also use? David Skaggs, former Democrat Representative and now executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education, seeks a clarification from Attorney General John Suthers and plans to seek redress in the state legislature if in-state tuition is not granted to these students.

August 05, 2007

From one of the panels at YearlyKos, Colorado Confidential's Cara DeGette and Minnesota Monitor's Abdi Aynte declared traditional media's "obsession with objectivity" a thing of the past.

"The model of mainstream journalists is and should be dead," DeGette told the audience. "There is a right and there is a wrong, and the new journalism needs to address that."

"Should we be obsessed with objectivity?" Aynte asked. "We should be obsessed with fairness."

New Journalism--code word for old journalism without the pretense to "objectivity" which the new leftist bloggers deem inadequate, outmoded, and frankly, dishonest (insofar as the MSM states it as a goal and never actually bothers trying to achieve it). Why lie? Advocacy ranting is so much more preferable to reporting the facts and letting a discerning public decide for themselves. Can't have the unwashed masses thinking for themselves, now, can we?

A mild chastisement of the new journalistic ethic seems to have no deterrent effect on the moonbats:

But reporting from an activist perspective, particularly when the reporter also engages in political activity, can bring credibility problems, said journalism ethics expert Robert Steele of the Poynter Institute, an educational organization revered by mainstream media.

Journalists who report with a clear bias "undermine the principle of independence," Steele said in a phone interview. And if the reporting crosses over into activism, he said, the result "can easily lead to competing loyalties, and competing loyalties lead to compromised reporting."

Norris said it is the mainstream media that often report from a bias and, in doing so, are missing important stories outside their normal areas of coverage. From her perspective, groups like Colorado Confidential can force traditional journalists to look at some of these issues.

"There are things you can do to actually move the media to cover things in your local area," she said from a panel titled "Blogs and Journalism: The New News?"

"You can make such an impact on what's going on in your community," she said. "It's amazing what you can do as a local blogger."

Masquerading as the new breed of journalist/blogger, these "progressives" are so far to the left that the MSM appears too conservative. Any quote from a Republican or right-winger sends them into a fit of apoplectic rage that induces yet another claim of conservative bias in the already too-far-left MSM.

Nice to see the fellows at Colorado Confidential--supported by mad blog money from liberal "foundations" (labeled as a "small stipend from the Center for Independent Media")--featured so prominently at the YearlyKook YearlyKos convention.

John and Ken need to be given a serious dose of corporeal punishment for their capitulation to the fear mongering, power mad president who believes he is a king. How do the Salazar brothers act when it comes to protecting the Constitution of the United States and Bill of Rights? Just like the Blood King Bush treats the Constitution as a "goddamn piece of paper".

There can be no other reason when they both vote for gutting the Fourth Amendment and giving a freehand to a lying president to spy on anyone in America without any judicial oversight.. . .Both of them need to see that their donors will not put up with "yes" men to a president that believes Congress and the Courts are there to serve his whims.

August 03, 2007

Cindy Carlisle Explains Dissenting Churchill Vote

The sole University of Colorado Board of Regents member to vote against firing a professor who compared some Sept. 11 victims to a Nazi said she followed the recommendation of a faculty committee, which suggested suspension.

Regent Cindy Carlisle told the Summit Daily News for its Friday edition that the Privilege and Tenure Committee had voted 3-2 to suspend former ethnic studies professor Ward Churchill for one year and demote him. CU President Hank Brown recommended Churchill be fired.

"I thought that they were the reviewing body who had the most at stake in terms of reviewing this," Carlisle said when contacted while on vacation in Hawaii. "They're active faculty. They're upholding the reputation of everything. They do the research, the teaching, the everything. I thought they would be in the best position to judge what the outcome should be."

Summit County Republicans criticized Carlisle for being the only regent to vote no in an 8-1 decision July 24 to fire Churchill for research misconduct, that included allegations of fabrication, falsification and plagiarism

In a follow-up letter on the issue, Carlisle said the reasons for her vote were "institutional." "As the case presented purely academic issues, I believed respect for faculty governance was of overriding importance. Plus, the work of the Privilege and Tenure Committee was extremely impressive both hard-hitting and fair and entitled to deference," she wrote.

Whether out of respect for the academics' recommendations or an attempt to shift responsibility away from herself, we can't help but feel that Carlisle's vote was calculated to bring her sympathy as a lone voice for free speech, and provide token "credibility" to the Regents' vote--for the Churchill-types, that is.

Colorado In-State Tuition For Children Of Illegal Immigrants

Colorado higher education director David Skaggs says he will try to remove legal barriers to in-state tuition for Colorado students whose parents are in the country illegally.

"The disconnect is, we treat these kids as Colorado kids for purposes of K-12 education, and then suddenly they fall off the edge of the Earth," Skaggs said. "Then we try to encourage them to think about going to college, and the status of their parents hasn't been an issue until suddenly they're faced with this resident tuition question.". . .The dispute involves only those students under 23 years of age who are not emancipated, meaning that they are still claimed by their parents as dependents on their income taxes.

Skaggs said he has asked the Colorado attorney general's office to clarify the law. He said if the advice from the attorney general is that a child of illegal residents doesn't qualify for in-state tuition, he will ask the legislature to change the law.

"My hope is that they (the attorney general's staff) will say that an otherwise eligible Colorado . . . student shouldn't be disqualified from resident tuition because his or her parents happen not to be able to document their status in the country," Skaggs said.

Nate Strauch, spokesman for Attorney General John Suthers, said that an answer could come in a few weeks.

No Mr. Skaggs, the disconnect is how this state or any state could offer the benefits of in-state tuition to children of illegal immigrants and not to CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY who just happen to be from another state. These students have received their federally mandated K-12 education--let them pony up the cash, find scholarships, work while in school or take out loans to pay for college, just like citizens of the USA and residents of this state have to do themselves. As of now, Metro State charges non-resident tuition; however, CU grants in-state tuition.

Notice too how Skaggs finds the only solution to granting in-state tuition can be found through the legislature, and not through referenda or initiatives--something the public could directly determine.

Oh well, this isn't the first time pro-amnesty advocates have tried to do an end-around on Colorado's laws barring in-state tuition for illegal immigrants.

**UpdateRMN columnist Mike Rosen discusses how a deranged Case Western Reserve University doctoral candidate and Churchill supporters equates CU's Regents to Nazis (and has difficulty spelling anything correctly), and how Churchill's dismissal has nothing to do with free speech:

"Subject: You are f**king nazi's (sic)

"It is IMPOSSIBLE to speak politely, intelligibly, with reason to moral cretins masquarding (sic) as humans, cretins utterly devoid of intelligence, humanity, common sense, courage: YOU ARE ALL F**KING NAZI'S (sic). May you and all your progeny burn in hell for eternity. Perhaps there is a special place there for nazi's (sic)."

The above e-mail was sent to all nine of the CU regents July 25, the day after their decision to fire Ward Churchill. The sender was one Paulette Sage, a doctoral candidate in sociology at Case Western Reserve University. Sage's spelling deficiencies and her ignorance of the difference between the plural and possessive is embarrassing enough, but her equating the CU regents with Nazis is positively idiotic.

Sadly, Sage typifies hysterical academic leftists distraught at Churchill's demise and appalled that one of their own tenured philosopher-kings could be held accountable for his behavior by administrators, taxpayers, tuition-paying customers, the community or even a panel of fellow academics.

Churchill will argue that no matter how offensive his speech, the First Amendment is designed expressly for the purpose of protecting his right to say it, and that faculty members especially must be able to speak and write unpopular views because their role is to stimulate free and open debate on cutting edge, controversial issues. He is right up to a point. Courts have granted more leeway to professors to say offensive things than they have accorded to administrators, on the theory that unrestrained exchange of ideas lies at the core of academic freedom.

However, there are outer limits. The University of Colorado should not have to tolerate speech which can reasonably be expected to cause serious disruptions of its normal operations. For example, there is an active ROTC program on campus. The university would have a legitimate concern that Churchill’s incitements to kill or maim military officers could threaten the peaceful functioning of this program and lead to further disruptions on campus.

Academic freedom must be accompanied by academic responsibility. Professor Churchill’s defamatory and incitement speech failed the test of First Amendment protection. He deserved to be fired on this basis alone. Of course, if the allegations against Churchill regarding plagiarism and other acts of misconduct turn out to be true, his firing is a no-brainer.

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